Q. Where did you meet the band?

A. Lenny Kaye. Lenny's my age. We met a long time ago. Camden, New Jersey. In '64 we both went over the Delaware Memorial Bridge to see the Isley Brothers. Everyone else was all dated up. We were always stag. We must gravitated to each other, cause everybody else was there to see Johnny Mathis, and we were there to see this guy play out front for the Isleys. This guy played like a maniac and we both knew he was gonna end up being Jimi Hendrix. Green sharkskin suit, patent leather shoes--he was wearing a do-rag then. He played a Strat--old or fake?--Lefthanded. Custom. Remember when they did "Shout"? how maniac it was?

The strange thing is JayDee. He's 20 now. I used to babysit for him. One day we found him in Woolworth's cryin. He'd been lost for 20 minutes, and in that time he'd stolen about $18 worth of candy, games and marbles...all stuffed into his pockets. Then he grew up.

Who would thought it? One day I remember him. He was all wobbly on the roller rink. A maniac. He'd rush around, crash into old men who'd end up lying in the middle of the rink. And he'd wail. He'd always want to skate to 19th Nervous Breakdown.

It's weird. You get paid for watching a kid and then you turn around and you gotta pay him for watching out for you.

Q. What do you think of Rimbaud's quitting poetry at 20 to become a mercenary? Do you know he wrote some for National Geographic?

A. I don't know. He shed one skin to get another. I quit being a Jehovah's Witness at 13. That was pretty heavy.

Q. Anything you'd tell your fans?

A. (Suddenly quiet, tired and distant) Yeah. Tell em it don't matter if they can't hear the words. They don't mean anything. I'm not saying anything they don't already know